In November, Mozilla's software development team decided to shut down development of a long awaited 64-bit Windows version of its Firefox web browser. At the time, Mozilla Engineering Manager Benjamin Smedberg said the reason for the cancellation was due to many third party plug-ins not having 64-bit versions.

That decision did not sit well with many Firefox users, and apparently it did not please many on the Mozilla development team as well. In a new post this week on the Mozilla Google Groups support page, Smedberg admitted that "there was significant negative feedback" on the move to cancel Firefox Windows 64-bit development.

Smedberg has apparently had a change of heart and now claims, "I believe that we can keep a set of users happy by making a modification to the original plan." That plan will include moving all of the current users of Mozilla's Win64 nightly channel to the Win32 channel. However, he added, "Users who need the 64-bit builds will have to download it after the migration point."

The Windows 32-bit version of Firefox will continue to be tested to make sure it also works well with any 64-bit version of Windows, according to Smedberg. As we mentioned before, the vast majority of Windows 7 and Windows 8 owners are now using the 64-bit SKU of these operating systems. Smedberg said, "I do hope that the projects and developers who are interested in win64 will work together to maintain this build configuration."